Background

Jose and his year-older brother and frequent riding rival, Irad Ortiz Jr., are from Puerto Rico, where they graduated from the Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school. Their grandfather and an uncle also were jockeys.

Irad Ortiz moved to New York in 2011, and Jose began riding at Parx a year later. Jose soon relocated to New York and won with his first mount, Corofin, in March 2012 at Aqueduct. Today the brothers are among the most successful riders in Thoroughbred racing.

In 2016, Irad told Jeff Lowe of “America’s Best Racing” that he always competed against Irad, whether in baseball, basketball or horse racing. “That’s just what we do,” he said. “We’ve always competed, trying to beat each other. It’s still fun. We’re still very close. We share the same corner in the jockey’s room in New York and when we get done racing, he usually stops by my house, just about every day.”